Shortly after she pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining goods by false pretence, Barrister Joseph Papa-Lee Kabia swiftly intervened and paid a fine for a woman, which was instituted by the Court, against Marion Turay, thereby preventing her from being imprisoned.

Turay appeared before Magistrate Peter Gogra, at the Waterloo Magistrate Court No. 2 in the Western Rural District, facing a count charge of obtaining goods by false pretences.

Primarily, Turay was not represented by a lawyer until when  Papa-Lee Kabia who went to adjudicate on another matter met the convict  crying in fear of being jailed when he forestalled the situation.

Barrister Kabia intervened and decided to do an alternative dispute resolution. On the next appearance (the day the convict was going to be sentenced) Barrister Papa-lee Kabia put up a humanitarian gesture by repaying the monies (SLE 1,800) she owed Philip, thereby preventing the convict, Turay from going to prison.

Lawyer Papa-Lee Kabia is now renown for his generosity and kindness. Among other things and in recent time, he provided food and cash to orphans at Saint George’s the 6th Orphanage Home in Grafton.

The complainant in the matter, Lydia F. V. Philips, a retired soldier gave an account of how she and the convict, Turay got to that point.

The retired soldier narrated that she came to know the convict and her son through her brother, Morrison.

However, she recounted that on the 15th of June 2024, the convict gave his son the sum of SLE 5,000 to pay as a deposit for a motor bike which they intended to purchase for commercial purpose.

Unfortunately, the convict’s son, Sahid embezzled the sum.

The former soldier revealed that the convict, Turay, ran to her place and intimated her with the unfortunate incident. “Turay busted into tear, but I consoled her,” she explained further.

Philip said that she decided to offer some form of assistant to Turay by entrusting her with bags of charcoal, adding that they agreed that the charcoal be sold at SLE 130, out of which the SLE 100 be paid to Philip and then the SLE 30 she will realize as profit from each bag of the 100 bags of charcoal be kept for herself.

Philip added that she gave Turay some money to buy a cartoon of chicken to sell and then the profit by will be shared between them.

A month later, Philip said that she was surprised that Turay did not show up as agreed.

She decided to intimate the Head Man in their community about the issue, but Turay gave assurances to repay the money. According to Philip, Turay was expected to pay on the 1st of August, 2024, but failed to do so.

Philip resorted to taking police action before the matter was later charged to court.

On the other hand, Marion Turay however expressed delight and appreciation for the timely intervention of Barrister Kabia on the matter. “Lawyer Papa-Lee Kabia is a credible and true humanitarian Barrister, who believe in humanity and pronobo service delivery for the needy, especially which things are heard for the ordinary man in the country,” she said.